A Message from Our Pastor...

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die.” (Eccl 3.1-2) I start with this quote from Ecclesiastes because I really feel that in our parish, we are heading into a special season in its history. What is being born and what is dying? We are about to give birth to a new parish! This Sunday, September 10th, marks the beginning of a new community of people gathered around Jesus in the Eucharist under the parish name of Blessed Frederic Ozanam. This community is being born out of St. Patrick’s Parish. Who will be the midwives that will assist in its birth, in this labour of love? None of us are excluded, we are all midwives, called to some form of assistance as the new parish takes on a life of its own.

So what is to die? St. Patrick’s as it used to be. Over time, there will be large numbers of people who will make the decision to leave our parish and join Blessed Frederic. And, that is how it should be. As hard as that is, and sad as that is on a certain level, it must happen. Like the change that a mother undergoes once she delivers her baby, like the change that the parents undergo as they see their child flourish and grow and take on more and more autonomy, it is natural to feels pangs of sadness and to miss what once was.

This does not mean that St. Patrick’s is to shrivel up and float off with the wind. No, it means that we will now enter a new season of growing, of building, of redeveloping as a parish, of allowing God to summon out from us more of what we are called to be. On that note, stay tuned for a program designed to do precisely that. Have you heard of a program called Living Your Strengths? If not, you will soon. Made in the image and likeness of God, each of us is called to reflect a particular attribute of God, to flourish in our own unique way according to the gifts with which we have been endowed. Most of us are not aware of these gifts, many of us think that what we have is not good enough. Let us be courageous enough to discover the wonder and the truth of our God-given strengths. I believe this is a grace-filled way that we will grow as a parish. As I said in my June message: with Jesus we will not perish. No, with Jesus we will “parish” in a most beautiful way.